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Friday, 19 September 2014

KWALE GOVERNOR UNDER SIEGE

A
Senate committee has given Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya three weeks to account
for Sh61 million that the county allocated for construction of his official
residence.

Senators
issued the directive after the governor failed to produce documents to support
the county’s decision to divert funds provided by the Transition Authority (TA)
for civil works and purchase of Hansard materials.

The
Public Accounts and Investment Committee heard that Sh11.8 million was paid to
contractors on June 30, 2013 for unrelated work, while Sh9.2 million was not
returned to the Central Bank as required by law.

The
committeedemanded to know what happened to funds that had been initially
allocated to the projects. Dr Boni Khalwale, the chairman, said it was
necessary to confirm that the sums paid for the projects initiated by the
defunct councils were correct and to establish why the county used the funds
for building the governor’s residence.

“Some
of the money was spent on functions that are not devolved, like construction of
a dormitory. “We require minutes indicating how the allocation was done and
contracts of existing projects detailing money owed to the contractors,” said
Dr Khalwale.

However,
Mr Mvurya said the funds were diverted with permission from the TA. He said it
was necessary for the county government to complete work left behind by local
authorities as they were not “ghost projects”.

The
county had not acquired land for the governor’s residence by June 30, 2013 yet
the funds had to be spent within a given period, he added.